Seasonsoflace.com

Trying to Cast On

ShadowDancer — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:47:56 +0000

Sooo…

That cowl? It’s lovely and all, but it doesn’t fit the way I wanted it to. So, I’ve done some reworking, and have a new chart. The old chart ought to be perfect for sport-weight yarn. This new chart should make the DK yarn produce a cowl I like. That’s underway — with a questionable amount of yarn left from the first one.

Meanwhile, I’ve been planning to knit Echo Flower along with the rest of you folks. If I’m going to make enough headway for it to look like the end is in sight it before it’s time to start Evenstar, I’d best get my butt in gear.

Today, I thought I had finally chosen the stash yarn I think I’m going to use. I can’t bring myself to use the new silk — because Echo Flower only takes 800 yards. I can’t bring myself to just waste 400 yards of silk. So, I was thinking of using my Blue Moon Fiber Arts Bambu.

Here’s my swatch.

It took awhile, but I managed to get the nupps to work despite the very splitty nature of this yarn. But in the end, I’m not impressed, actually. I don’t particularly like the way the nupps come out in this yarn. I suppose I could substitute beads for nupps.. and then the lovely shimmer of this yarn would do what I wanted for the Echo Flower, even if it doesn’t make pretty nupps. But you know, this yarn just isn’t doing it for me for this design. Now I’m back to the hunting for Echo yarn, and trying to figure out what to do with THIS yarn. (I may just up and … sell it! – 800 lovely yards of bambu!)

In the mean time, I think I’ll call Miss Babs to see if there’s another 500 yards of that silk lying around somewhere. I’d love to use it for Evenstar!

Oh… and one more thing!

We’re actively collecting now for the Stealth Award to our Amazing Blog Mistress. Since I didn’t share my pay pal address until I was sure we’d have enough for a really nice gift, there are a few people who’ve not had a chance to fill their original pledges. That means that there’s still time for a few more donations to slip in to put that gift certificate over the top. After all the work she does in the background to keep the blog running (not to mention just plain paying for the server space), I think she deserves a massive bonus. Thanks so quite a few of you, she’ll have a nice gift. But if you’ve been dithering, or now realize that you’ve got $5.00 or $10.00 to spare… if you either send it by pay pal to needledncr AT comcast DOT net, or comment seeking my address for other forms of payment, I’ll add it to the pot.

Thanks again to all who have already generously donated!

One more time, in brown

cgirl — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:34:58 +0000

I’ve cast on the lace section for the second baby blanket I’m making, this time in brown.

This one will probably be just like the last one I posted, That Frikken Baby Blanket, unless Inspiration hits me soon for something new and fun to do for the corners.

Hopefully this will be the last baby for a while.

Lots of in the middle

beadingbanshee — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:01:57 +0000

So after setting her aside for a bit in order to finish the Christmas gift knitting, Titania is back in action. She wasn’t quite to the halfway point before the season started, so she’s fully in the running this season. After a pretty rough start which engendered lots of grumbling, I’ve gotten the hang of the pattern and it’s wending its way along smoothly now. I’m in the last chart before the border, but I may decide to do another repeat of the pattern before then. It seems a bit short to me as it is. I kind of suspected this would happen when I was looking at the finished project, because it seemed a bit short in the pictures. We’ll see how long it is when I finish this chart.

The other current project on the needles is Dem Fisher Sin Fru. Yes, this is an ANCIENT mystery knit. It’s taken me forever mostly because of the yarn I chose. It’s a lovely 100% alpaca, but it’s also dental floss thin. Even using tiny needles the stitch is looser than I usually work, but I’ve decided with this yarn that’s just the way it should be. Unfortunately my fingers tend to complain using the tiny needles, so I can only do one set of knit/purl rows before I need a break. I’m about 50 rows from the end now, so there is a small possibility I’ll finish this by the end of the season. I ended up changing the border on this pattern. After looking at a ton of finished pictures on ravelry, I decided I just didn’t like the way the border looked. This seems to be a recurring theme with this designer. I love her patterns, but there is usually some part of the pattern I feel compelled to change. Either that or it’s a disease I’m catching from shadowdancer who has a hard time knitting ANY pattern exactly as written!

I also hope to be casting on something new this season, but haven’t quite decided what yet. More on that when I finally make a decision!

Good Nupp – Bad Nupp

namida — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:18:29 +0000

So I started that boarder chart of the Echo Flowers Shawl not long ago feeling like “wow, I’m coming to an end quickly now!”

If only it was that easy. Since between me and that finished shawl a nasty little obstacle had built up: devilish, mean, unnerving things called “nupps”.

I did realize that in order to knit all those beautiful Estonian lace shawls I would have to master nupps at some point, so I was rather curious when I did the first row of nupps. In fact it kept me up till unspoken times in the night because I couldn’t bring myself to do it the day after. Row 1 of the nupps (the knit row) was not problem. It’s the same thing I had done a zillion of times during the flowers pattern anyhow. I did even try to give it extra-low pressure, but obviously didn’t pay enough attention.

Since as soon as I reached the purl row those nupps turned into evil entities out to destroy my knitting – and my hand. For out of forcing the needle through all those slings of yarn produced a row earlier made my hand hurt before I even reached the end of the row! OUCH. Not even thinking about doing another row just afterwards. Those hands needed a serious rest after the Battle Against Evil Nupps.

Everybody who is knitting the Echo Flowers Shawl and hasn’t knitted nupps before please take that one advice from me: Knit your nupps really, really, loosely! Don’t pull too much on the yarn. Give it all the air you can get in there and your nupps will be so much more beautiful and so much easier to do! (And that’s from me, who usually has to pay extra attention the stitches don’t just fall off the needles for she knits so loosely …)

However this is what it looked like once I had gotten through that row-of-hell:

There are Good Nupps …

… and there are Bad Nupps.

tough I have to admit I’m glad the Good Nupps outnumber the Bad Nupps thereby giving me hope that I’ll eventually, one day, get the clue of it. Well … given how many nupps remain on this chart I better hurry up doing so … though right now I’m a little scared of all of them *irgs*

Starting the season

birgit — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 04:27:52 +0000

I´ve been absent for way too long, but I am lurking…

Last season was about test knitting, and it produced this

It is called “the life of a tree” and it is a faroese-shaped shawl that features cherry trees, leaves and berries. Pattern will be up soon on jriede.org or ravelry.

Then I was totally determined to start with the KAL. But. I got carried away with the faroese shape and cast on Lacewing

What can I say. I just HAD to cast on since I managed to get a skein of Wollmeise lace. In the name of science,how could I not test the yarn everyone seems to talk about?! Here´s the result so far:

My Valentine all done

nolaboard — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:26:11 +0000

Just about exactly 400 yds, My Valentine Scarf in CPY Panda Silk. It’s cherry red and suits the season well!

Pressies!!!

Lady Foxglove — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:29:02 +0000

I have received a beautiful bag. I’ts got little bows all over it. Now you might imagine little bows sticking out, but no, these bows are part of the fabric that the bag is made of. See? Isn’t it just amazing!! It was a pressie. A marvelous pressie. It’s truly wonderful, and…….. IT HAS POCKETS!!! Isn’t this bag great?

It also came with a cunning little side bag. It can go inside the bigger bag and hold stitch markers, or needles, or tape, or *gasp* patterns. Although you’re not technically supposed to fold the pattern, it’s realtively simple and the pattern was printed large, so I”m good.

I’ve gotten relatively far on my knitting. But not really. I have been frogging, or tinking, or ripping out three rows worth of stitches, because I made a mistake three rows back. But it’s alright. My family and I watch plenty of television, which is perfect frogging time.

We are so lucky!

ShadowDancer — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 22:08:10 +0000

Guess what gang.

You remember those sponsors I was talking about? We’ve got another one!

Dianne Nash of Windy Vally Muskox has extended our 15% Discount! on the amazing fibers they sell. Check out the details on the Sponsors Page. This is Windy Valley Muskox’s second season supporting Seasons of Lace.

Oh wait… I mis-spoke.

We’ve got two more returning sponsors!

Kathy of The Shawl Pin Store has generously extended her 10% discount to Seasons of Lace members through March 21, 2010!

This is The Shawl Pin Store’s second season supporting Seasons of Lace.

And…

kelbel has donated three lovely sets of markers!

Cast on – Echo Flower Shawl

blindpurls — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:06:01 +0000

So I started my echo flower shawl a wee bit later than most. I casted on Feb 1 and so far I’ve fnished the set up chart and the first flower chart repeat. I decided with this shawl, slow and steady is the way to go! I’m using Schaeffer Andrea (100% silk laceweight) in Lady sings the blues – Billie Holiday. I’m loving this pattern so far. Normally since I use silk laceweight I have to go down a few needles sizes so I cast on in size 3.25mm (US 3), I think I should have gone with a larger needle size. Oh well good thing silk blocks out lovely. I also decided to use beads instead of nupps because in a fine silk yarn they look a little off. Here’s pictures of my progress so far.

Red Nefertiti

nolaboard — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:44:21 +0000

I decided I wanted my red shawl to be a rectangle, so I frogged my Icarus 5 repeats of Chart A into it! and cast on for the Nefertiti stole. I’m enjoying it so far. Went down one needle size so the fabric wasn’t so loose. Such pretty soft yarn, and the color is amazing. It’s Lost City Denise’s Saffron Threads alpaca.

Another Prize –Another Sponsor … and a word about sponsors generally

ShadowDancer — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:38:00 +0000

Earlier this week, Banshee was at my house knitting. We do that now and then. Any way, she reached down in to her knitting bag, and pulled out this:

(Such lovely Firey colors!)

At first, I was confused. But then she revealed that she was donating these three skeins of KnitPicks Shimmer to the Prize Closet! Sort of brightened my day, you know?

Not that my day wasn’t bright. It had already been brighted quite a bit by a delightful e-mail exchange with Lindsay at Prolonged Sunlight.

(formerly Woolly Seashell). Evidently, she decided that offering up a prize wasn’t good enough. She’s has offered us a 20% discount on her wonderful stitch markers. (I think that’s the largest discount we’ve been offered in quite a while!)

And look at those markers? She makes each one by hand, and will even do sort of custom things (as in you ask for something like… that one there, only in blue? … and she’s likely to come up with it for you! ) (Oh, and no, those aren’t the prize markers, those are MINE thank you very much.)

This is Lindsay’s fourth season supporting us, but it’s her first time offering us all a discount! Pop over to the Sponsors Page to get the details, and then show her how grateful we are!

What?

Well, yes, I am plugging a sponsor’s shop….

but really, I’m plugging them all.

The best way to keep Seasons of Lace full of prizes and such is to show our sponsors that we appreciate them. They invest in us, whether through prizes or discounts, and we put up ads, which they hope will result in increased sales. If we don’t show them that this works, they’re going to run out of generosity. And while the pool of folks who might be willing to play is large, it is not as vast as our love of lace and blogging about it, and it’s no where near as vast as our collective joy at winning yummy prizes.

So… when you’re about to buy more yarn, or stitch markers, or patterns…. look to our sponsors, see if they have what you need, and when you do, tell them that you came to them from Seasons of Lace! By supporting them, you’re supporting us! (Oh, and then, come blog about it — you might win a raffle prize!)

If you’ve forgotten who some of these wonderfully generous people are, you can find useful lists on these pages:

Current Sponsors (folks offering discounts)

Current Prize Donors

Past Sponsors (everyone who has ever offered us a discount)

Past Prize Donors (everyone who has ever donated a prize).

Unnerving Nupps

KnittinDiva — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:45:50 +0000

I’m currently working on the Echo Shawl (no new pictures to share yet, as, when it’s on a needles it just looks like a pile of yarn), and hope to get it done this weekend. This is the first time I’ve done nupps, and I’ve gotta tell ya…..they are a bit unnerving. The problem of course, is not in the nupp row, but in the row that follows, where you have to purl all those stitches you created, together. Just imagine….after wrestling with these nupp rows for more than week, and working on the 2nd to the last row last night, that there appear to be several spots where I forgot to make the nupp. AAACCCKKK!!! There are at least 3 spots, where apparently I made the 1st nupp in the repeat, but forgot the 2nd. I was so ready to cry and just set the whole darned thing in the bottom of one of my knitting bags last night! I’ve still not decided what to do. In the old days, when I was such a perfectionist, I’d rip back and redo them. However, I have let go of some my perfectionistic tendencies (after the birth of last wild and crazy child), this is the first lace project in a very long time that I have not done life lines (Have I learned my lesson? You bet I have!), and the thought of reknitting all those rows, and all those nupps….. Still undecided what to do. In the meantime, I’ll continue to work on my socks. I think I need a different kind of therapy for now.

Lily in Red

Lostcitydenise — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 01:36:37 +0000

Because I’m insane today I cast on another lace project. From Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia, the Lily of the Valley Scarf/Stole.

Here’s the border chart of my Lily in Red.

One project, Antarctis with beads, one project, Lily in Red, with nupps. That’s what I call leading a balanced life!

But Wait! There’s MORE!

ShadowDancer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:48:56 +0000

The generosity is overwhelming.

Bette, of BBKnits is

The Knitting Diva has offered up two skeins of Lavish Lace in the winner’s choice of color. Lavish Lace is 700 yards of lovely lace in a scrumptuous blend of 50% merino and 50% silk!

This is the Knitting Diva’s second season with Seasons of Lace — both as a sponsor and as a participant.

and…

Our dear friend Lynnzpickles is revamping her whole shop, which has just reopened as

Lindsay at Prolonged Sunlight has offered up a lovely set of stitch markers.

AND…

We’ve got another sponsor offering us a discount!

Mandie from Sheepy Time Knits has once again offered two different discounts! First, she’s offering a 10% discount on any yarn order, that is good through June 21. For that discount, use discount code “SoL”. But… if you spend $100.00 or more, she’s offering a 20% discount! For that one, use discount code “SoL100″. These discounts apply to custom yarn orders as well as orders of in-stock yarns.

This is Sheepy Time Knits second season supporting Seasons of Lace.

Autumn of Lace Prizes

sligo — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:44:13 +0000

I was so lucky in the Autumn of Lace KAL this year! First I won this lovely shawl pin from The Shawl Pin Store.

But recently I found out that I have won three other prizes. One is a booklet of shawl patterns from Joyknits.

Second, I won two skeins of laceweight yarn from Sheldridge Farm. I chose white so that I can use it to design an Estonian Lace stole. I will really enjoy that.

I also won a skein of Cashmere from Windy Valley Muskox. It came with a little lace scarf pattern, and I just might knit that pattern.

Finally, I won needles from Dyakcraft, formerly Grafton Fibers, which is located right here in Vermont. This was exciting, really, because I’ve always wanted to try their needles. When I contacted Tom to see what he was offering, his reply was “What do you want?” Wow.

Well, I had thought of some basics that I could use, but what I really wanted was a pair of short size 1 straight needles for knitting Estonian Lace. This is not something that Dyakcraft has on their website, but I asked Tom if he might consider putting caps on a set of size 1 dpns for me.

He did better than that. Instead of just capping a set he had around, he made a set of 6″ size one straights, in the color Alabaster, which is just a gorgeous deep green with blue tints. I almost cried when I took them out of the package, they are just that lovely. You can see that my photo does not do them justice, but I intend to fully enjoy these needles for a long time. They are perfection.

While I was at their site I saw that they have sets of their wooden dpns on sale–five sets for one low price, and I ordered a set of the 6″ dpns. They too are just as lovely as can be. Mine are in natural Rosewood, warm and dark. I am going to treasure these:

So knitting is fun for its own sake, but winning prizes is just so fun too! Thanks to all the sponsors of Seasons of Lace.

That Frikken Baby Blanket

cgirl — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:37:35 +0000

I know I shouldn’t start a post out that way, but I couldn’t resist. When you have friends with the last name of Frikken, well sometimes you just have to make jokes. And it’s much better if you tell other people.

Hi, my name’s cgirl and this is my first post to seasonsoflace. Unfortunately, I finished this blanket before the season started, so this doesn’t count for the Winter Season, but I still wanted to show it off. This is actually the first bit of knitting I’ve ever blocked and I’m wicked proud of it. It turned out so well.

This is the design for the corner that I came up with, with some help from ShadowDancer. I had knit a similar baby blanket a couple of years ago, but the pattern mysteriously disappeared off-line. This is the corner I came up with and I’m not sure if I like it. What do people think? Do you have any advice for how to work this?

I’m very proud of this blanket and had to put in one more gratuitous picture to show it off

FYI, the blanket was made with Berroco Vintage (50% Acrylic,40%Wool,10% Nylon), about 350 yards Buttercream and about 350 yards Tidal Pool. I needed 2 skeins of each to complete it. And since it’s a baby blanket, I made sure to use superwash yarn.

Well hello again.

lynnzpickles — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:33:19 +0000

It has been quite some time since I’ve written on here. Busy busy busy. Well, I’ve started a vintage lace shoulderette which should be loads of fun. It’s a wicked easy pattern to remember so it’s virtually a worry-free knit. That was started on January 21st. Small picture, I know, but for some reason my computer wasn’t allowing me to look at the larger version and I’m just not in the mood to fight with inanimate objects at the moment.

Then my big project has been cleaning out my brother’s old room (he recently moved out) and making it into my mom and I’s “play room”. We have ALL sorts of fun stuff in there now and it’s kept locked away from my dear little babes. Eee! I have printed out the pattern for the Echo Flower Shawl today (slowly but surely, one page at a time, my printer’s still chugging along) and hopefully when my addi lace needles come in I’ll get that all started up. I’ve gotten so much stuff done so far this month and I’m hoping to keep up the momentum. Whoo!

<3 Lindsay

Oh yes! And thank you to the folks who’ve I’ve won prizes from!! I received my Shawls book from E.J. Slayton from Joyknits. )

I also received (a while back, I’m a bad bad blogger, lol) a pattern from Fiber Dreams. I chose Pacific Islands…which is another project I’m planning on starting up this season. I’ve got a lot of knitting to do so off I go! )

Actual Knitting Content

ShadowDancer — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:30:51 +0000

I feel like I’ve been doing nothing but updating prize awards and prize pages for ages. This a good thing… it means that things around here are going gangbusters. Folks are still being insanely generous in donating prizes. But… this good thing means that I’ve already spent hours “blogging” or updating prize pages (and sponsor pages) or fixing registration forms (c’mon – you know you want to join us) and haven’t posted a thing here. That’s not a good thing.

So, on Sunday, I hauled out the camera and took a picture of the one of my little lace project’s then current status:

Voila! A lace cowl that is more than 2/3 done! The chart and I have had a few terse discussions, but I think I’ve got it right now. I thought I was likely to bind off that very evening. An then I planned to beg a friend to test it in the lovely mink! yarn she has lurking about her house with not much to do. I hoped to have a bribe ready for her by Tuesday….

Then, I’ll have to get real pictures (with a model and everything) and choose a name (Lacy Cowl, which is the working title, is just too dull – I’d love suggestions), and have another terse discussion with the word processing software to produce a pattern. I hope to actually release it this month.

Silk Makes Any Day Brighter

ShadowDancer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:37:31 +0000

Not so long ago, I won a raffle. I didn’t feel wholly deserving (okay, I always feel guilty accepting prizes here), but I’m thrilled about the prize!!THRILLED!!!

What is that? Well, starting from the right, we have two lovely stitch markers (they were bonuses! — wholly unexpected, amazing little treats).

Aren’t they adorable?

And there were more treats. Adorable little treats

You know what those are? Those are… Swatch Me!! skeins!! Seriosly, the labels on the back read: “Swatch Me!! Ten yard sample.” I’ve got one each of “Yummy” Sock Yarn (100% superwash merino 2 ply) and Yowza What A Skein (4-ply superwash merino (worsted). What delightful fun!

But those aren’t actually the “real prize”. Those treats go with this…

That’s silk my friends. Silk…

Scrumptuous silk

Miss Babs “Mulberry Silk” Lace-Weight yarn. 1250 yards of delicious exquisite silk.

Is is strange that I still want to drool even when I have it in my hands?

(Have I said thank you Babs??)

It turns out it’s not quite enough for Evenstar — but I’m pretty sure I could make an over-sized Echo Flower with it.

But first, I think I’ll just pet it for a while

More Prizes in the Closet — and some DISCOUNTS!

ShadowDancer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:27:38 +0000

Remember that drivel about getting to knit some lace, and post about it? yeah. Well, it’s been trumped by generosity again.

Evidently, the prize closet has a magnet in it. And it’s sucked in some more prizes. It’s powerful enough that it managed to show effects in on the sponsors page!

So.. in addition to the prizes I announce on February 1, we have

Cindy at BaxterKnits has donated one of her Progressive Shawl pattern. She calls it a progressive shawl because the design starts simple, and increases in complexity as you go — so it’s a lace class that leaves you with a gorgeous shawl. This is Cindy’s fourth season sponsoring Seasons of Lace.

Our old friends Buffy and Don at Shelridge Farms

have generously donated two prizes, each of which contains 2 skeins of their new Soft Touch Ultra Lace Weight Yarn. The lucky winners will get to choose their colors.

This is Shelridge Farms third season supporting Seasons of Lace, (they took one season off). They were among our original sponsors.

And as if that’s not enough, we have some returning sponsors offering discounts!

Chris of Briar Rose Fibers is offering us a 10% discount – through August 31!! You’ll need the discount code, which you can find over on the Sponsor’s Page. This is Briar Rose Fibers fourth season supporting Seasons of Lace!

Jo Ellen of the Yarn Bazaar has offered us a 10% discount — and free shipping on all orders over $100.00. This is Yarn Bazaar’s second season supporting us.